FF7 meets FF8
by Zida
Summary: A short cross-over story


Squall looked at the request letter he held in his hand again. Shaking his head, he looked up at his friends, whom had assembled themselves on the ground outside the Ragnarok. Holding the letter up, he sighed.  
  
"Looks like we have a job to do," Rinoa said, turning to them. She looked at Squall. "Who's it from?"  
  
Squall tucked the paper away. "Laguna. He wants us to take the Ragnarok and check out the surrounding planets."  
  
Quistis looked mildly surprised. "Why?" she asked slowly. Squall shrugged in agitation. 'How should I know? I'm no mind reader, maybe he just wanted to get us off this planet for some reason or another'.  
  
"I don't know. Do we have to go right now?" Rinoa asked, looking up at the ship. Squall shook his head.  
  
"I don't care whether we go or not."  
  
Irvine tipped his hat. "Alrighty. Well, if anyone wants me, just like, give us a yell."  
  
He turned and walked off, Selphie following close behind him. Quistis nodded.  
  
"I'll be ready to go, whenever everyone else is."  
  
Then she also walked off, leaving Squall, Rinoa and Zell by the ship. Zell crossed his arms.  
  
"I'll stay here, if you want."  
  
Again, Squall merely shrugged, and walked off. Rinoa shook her head and turned to Zell.  
  
"I hope he gets over that one day."  
  
Raijin snuck away, back to where Fujin and Seifer were waiting. He nodded.  
  
"They're goin' into space, to check out some other planets, ya know."  
  
Seifer raised an eyebrow. "And they didn't invite us? How rude of them."  
  
Fujin nodded. "Most certainly."  
  
Raijin looked at them and shook his head. "Ain't much ya can do about it, ya know. Not likely they'll come back for us, ya know."  
  
Seifer shrugged. "Maybe they wont have to."  
  
Fujin looked at him. "Pardon?"  
  
Seifer laughed, and looked over at the ship. "I have an idea."  
  
"Damn- I'm- Bored."  
  
Rinoa looked at Squall in a funny way. She sighed.  
  
"Don't be, we've got something to do."  
  
Squall shook his head and turned away. Rinoa continued to look at him the same way.  
  
"You said you're bored, then why don't you want to find something to do?"  
  
Squall didn't turn around, but simply put a hand on his head and sighed. Rinoa shook her head.  
  
"Oh, you're so difficult, Squall."  
  
He looked up at her quickly. "What do you mean by that?"  
  
Rinoa smiled. "Well, it's hard to work out exactly what you want to do, because you can never appear to make up your mind."  
  
Squall shook his head in reply, before turning around again. Rinoa shrugged and walked away, but stopped before she left completely. She looked at him.  
  
"I'm going to go and see what Irvine and Selphie are doing. Maybe they aren't as bored as you."  
  
Squall looked up and watched her leave. Looking around, he suddenly had an idea of something interesting to do. Turning to look at the Ragnarok's controls, he crossed his arms. 'I wonder if it would be a good idea to do that after all'. Taking a step towards the controls, he was suddenly startled.  
  
"Hey, Squall!"  
  
Spinning on his heel sharply, he saw Zell standing in the doorway, laughing.  
  
"Oh, man, you should have seen your face." He walked up as Squall put a hand on his head in exasperation. "What are you doing, anyway?"  
  
Squall shook his head. 'Whatever it looks like I'm doing. Nothing. What else is there to do around here anyway. Nothing even remotely exiting ever happens around here anymore'. Zell wandered around for a moment, his hands on his hips. Then he turned around and shrugged.  
  
"Whatever. You know, there's no fun around here anymore."  
  
Squall sighed. 'And you figured that out when? I think everyone knows that'. Zell walked up near the controls.  
  
Zell shrugged. "Maybe someone should...." he began, looking as if he were ready to hit one of the buttons without a thought. Squall shook his head.  
  
"Don't."  
  
Zell looked up. "Don't what? I wasn't gonna touch anything."  
  
A minute later, Rinoa came back, followed by Selphie, Irvine and Quistis. Quistis waved her hand at them.  
  
"We all may as well go now," she said, "There's nothing to do here."  
  
Squall shook his head in agitation. 'Obviously. If there was, no-one would be complaining about having nothing to do'. Rinoa smiled.  
  
"Squall's thinking again."  
  
Irvine grinned. "He'd better not think too much. He might, like, fizzle out."  
  
Selphie laughed, but Squall just shook his head. She moved over to the controls that Squall and Zell had been looking over and turned to them.  
  
"Okay, are we going to do what Laguna asked us, or are we all going home?"  
  
Squall sighed.  
  
Rinoa looked at him. "Are we going?"  
  
Squall nodded. Selphie jumped up and down and clapped her hands. "Yay! Are we going into outer space?"  
  
Squall shrugged. "It's up to all of you."  
  
Rinoa raised her hand. "But Squall, you're the leader, you should decide whether or not we should go."  
  
Squall turned away. 'Leader? I thought that was over by now. Can't they make their own decisions for once?'.  
  
Zell shrugged. "Well, I say it would have to be better than sittin' around here."  
  
Selphie nodded, and gunned the engines, the Ragnarok shooting off into outer space.  
  
Squall looked ahead, as the Ragnarok shot through space, having left their planet far behind them. Selphie stood at the controls, piloting the ship forward, towards other planets with who-knows-what on them. Rinoa stood behind her, also watching where they were heading. Suddenly the controls started beeping, and a red light began flashing. Selphie pulled her hands away from the controls, trying to locate the problem. Squall leaned over her shoulder, completely bewildered by the amount of controls.  
  
"What's going on?" Rinoa asked Selphie, "Why are the lights flashing like that?"  
  
Selphie shook her head and started pushing buttons frantically, attempting to stop the beeping. Quistis ran up, and yelled something out at her. Pointing out the screen, she brought a small blue and green planet to their attention.  
  
"Selphie, there," she said, still pointing, "Try to land it. Maybe we can find out what's wrong then."  
  
Selphie nodded and steered the ship hard to the left, towards the planet. The Ragnarok pushed through the atmosphere, and to anyone on the ground, it would have looked like a comet, streaking through the sky. Selphie tried to stabilize the ship, but it was completely out of her control. Quistis grabbed the back of one of the chairs, and crouched down.  
  
"Grab onto something," she called up, "And get down!"  
  
Squall and Rinoa got down against the backs of the chairs, and Selphie grabbed onto the seat. The ship cleared the clouds, and crashed down, nose first, on the edge of a wide, sandy desert. Getting up slowly, Squall looked around, but they were in complete darkness. Suddenly, a red light flickered on overhead, bathing the cockpit in a dark red glow. Selphie sat up and turned around in her seat, looking down at Rinoa and Quistis, who were behind her. Rinoa rubbed her head, and stood up.  
  
"I hit my head when we crashed." She looked at Squall, then at Quistis who was trying to get up after she had somehow managed to get caught, down behind one of the seats, and was now attempting to pull herself up by grabbing the chair. "Are you okay?"  
  
Quistis looked up at her and let go of the chair, dropping back onto the ground and sighed. Selphie got up and walked over, helping her up. Quistis nodded thanks, and dusted herself off.  
  
Squall shrugged. "Let's go see where we landed."  
  
It was an abnormally sunny day, and the countryside was bright and green, apart from the seemingly endless desert that lied in the center of the lush plains. In the trees that were scattered over the landscape, birds sang, and flew through the bright blue skies which were dotted with white, fluffy clouds. Far off, in the center of the desert, a tall, golden tower rose so high, that the top was hidden by thin, fog-like clouds. To the north of this shiny structure, was a mountain range, and to the west, a long, smothly-flowing river separated the meadows of the eastern side, from the rich rainforests of the west. Everything shimmered in the midday heat. Not many animals roamed around, they had retreated into the limited shade to escape the scorching sun. Only the most hardy of them dared to travel across the open areas, down to the cool river to drink. But this warm tranquil was suddenly ruptured, as a glowing object shot across the sky, and crashed into the sandy outskirts of the hot desert. Massive clouds of sand and dust were thrown up, and there was a heavy, metallic creaking, as the strange body settled into the sand. As the dust cleared, one or two of the nearby animals came into proximity of the massive craft that now lied, half-buried in the sand. One of the larger of these creatures, a gryphon- like, black monster with thin, insect-like wings, approached the door of the ship. It grated open, and the creature jumped back in surprise, but neared it again. A shadow passed on one of the walls inside, and the creature skidded around, clawing the ground to get leverage.  
  
"Ay, it's an alien!" it cried out, as it scattered away.  
  
As it ran, so did the other animals that had come to investigate. Out of the door, a young man jumped onto the ground, followed by 5 others, 3 girls and 2 other men. The first to alight the ship, a tall man, with a black and white jacket, and brown hair turned to one of the girls, a young brunette wearing a short, yellow dress.  
  
"Now look what you've done."  
  
The girl looked to the side, down at the front of the ship, which was completely buried in sand. She looked back up and shrugged.  
  
"Gee, I'm sorry, Squall, but it really wasn't my fault. I didn't mean to crash the ship."  
  
Irvine tapped her on the shoulder. "Not to worry, we should be able to get it out, right Squall?"  
  
Squall put a hand on his head and sighed. Rinoa looked around, blinking in the sunlight.  
  
"I guess we picked a good place to crash though," she said, smiling, "It looks like a nice place here."  
  
Squall looked one way, and then the other. He sighed.  
  
"What should we do?" he asked.  
  
Quistis shrugged. "Maybe we should try and find some sort of civillization, and ask if anyone can help us."  
  
Squall looked into the desert. "Well, look there. Maybe that would be the best way to go." He pointed to the gold tower. "Looks like some sort of town. Let's go there."  
  
"I wouldn't do that, if I were you."  
  
The six of them spun quickly, to see a massive bird, standing with it's chest out, looking down at them. Selphie shied away, at the size of the bird. It had been standing right behind her.  
  
"D-d-did it just, talk?" she asked quietly. The bird's eyes lit up with amusement, as if it knew what she was saying, but it didn't make a reply.  
  
"No," suddenly something flipped up over it's head, and landed on the ground in front of them. A girl with waist-length blonde hair, a velvet hat and a black and white dress, straitened herself up and smiled at them.  
  
"I did, however." She looked up at their ship and smiled, appearing amused by the fact that they had crashed. Squall appeared aprehensive of this strange character, but somewhat relieved that she was human. She walked up to him and extended her hand.  
  
"Eveva Diego."  
  
Squall nodded and hesitantly shook her hand.  
  
"Squall Leonheart."  
  
Eveva nodded and smiled. "I see you're having a little trouble. Is there anyway I could help?"  
  
Zell crossed his arms. "Not unless you have some sort of magical way to get our ship out of the sand."  
  
Eveva shook her head. " 'Fraid not. But- "  
  
Before she had a chance to continue, a sudden noise coming from near the mountains started up. Eveva suddenly froze, and began hitting herself on the forehead, repeating the word 'stupid' multiple times, before she shook her head and covered her face. Seconds after this performance, a big airship, with powerful jet engines, curved quickly around the side of one of the mountains, and headed towards them. The bird laughed, and only now did they notice that alongside this bird, was a demon-like thing, the same one who had exclaimed that they were aliens beforehand. The airship came up above them, and a voice called out.  
  
"Eveva! You'd better have a good excuse this time!" the high, but strange voice called down.  
  
Eveva looked up, then over her shoulder, up at the airship. "I was stupid to even let on to Cait Sith where I was going."  
  
Up on the deck of the airship stood a strange, white creature with a cat on it's back, and a man with spikey, blonde hair. The cat raised a megaphone to his mouth, as the man spoke to him.  
  
"Cloud says you'd better get up here now."  
  
Zell leaned towards Squall and whispered, "You see that guy's hair?"  
  
Squall looked at him out of the corner of his eye and shook his head. The bird leaned down, then back up, spreading it's wings.  
  
"Eveva. I will take you up."  
  
Eveva looked to the side and groaned. "Cirrus, I'm trying to get out of it."  
  
Cirrus shook his head. Eveva shrugged and climbed up onto his back. Cirrus flew up to the deck. Squall was silent as he watched the young girl debate with the man on the deck about something that they couldn't hear. But some of her signals showed that she might have been talking about them. Irvine turned to Squall.  
  
"Is it just me, or are we quickly becoming the center of attention?"  
  
He pointed over to the side, where, in the time between when the airship had appeared, and the time Irvine had spoken, a large, bluish-grey dragon had appeared, and was watching them with some kind of smug grin on it's face. Before long, the engines of the airship dimmed, and it became lower to the ground. Eveva came back down, but stayed off-side with the demon- thing and Cirrus, while, one by one, a large group of about 18 people alighted the airship. The blonde man who had been standing on the deck, walked out in front of them all. Behind him, the others became quiet, as he approached Squall, stopping a short distance away from him.  
  
"Eveva tells me that you've had a bit of trouble."  
  
Squall stayed still for a moment, but nodded. The man looked over his shoulder at the others, turning to another man with greyish-blonde hair.  
  
"Cid. Any ideas on how we may be able to help?"  
  
Squall shook his head. "There's no need...."  
  
Before he could finish, Rinoa stopped him. "Let them help if they want to."  
  
Eveva stood off to the side, and watched as one or two from her group began chattering among themselves. Squall shook his head at Rinoa's words, and sighed. Cid shrugged.  
  
"Not much, however, if Eveva could get Gaishiiaa to....."  
  
Eveva shrugged. "Gaishiiaa's really busy right now. There's a family dispute going on between Bahamut, Neo Bahamut, Bahamut ZERO and their mother Aramet. The four of them have decided that they want Gaishiiaa to settle it."  
  
Squall looked over at her, bemused. 'Bahamut? But, that's a GF. She can't be talking about him'. Cid shrugged. So did the other man. He turned towards Squall and nodded.  
  
"Cloud Strife."  
  
Squall nodded. "Squall."  
  
The dragon who was standing to the side, opposite Eveva and her bird, grinned wider, and uncrossed it's arms. At this movement, it attracted some attention from three of the women behind Cloud. They whispered to each other for a moment, before keeping a constant eye on the dragon. Cloud looked up at the Ragnarok.  
  
"Just by looking at your ship, I can tell you're not from around here."  
  
The dragon stepped forward. "Where'd you pick up that old rust-bucket, anyway?"  
  
Eveva took a breath, knowing that if the dragon spoke another word, it wouldn't be pretty. The dragon walked out next to Cloud.  
  
"And let me just say," it sneered, "Whoever flew that old pile of junk, has worse flying skills than a rock."  
  
Eveva put a hand over her mouth, whether it was shock or just an attempt to try not to laugh, she couldn't place, but it was surely a bit of both. Cloud looked to the side at it.  
  
"Cairo.....don't start."  
  
But it was too little, too late. Zell stepped forward.  
  
"What was that?" he asked, looking at Cairo. "What'd you say about my friend's flying skills?"  
  
Cairo seemed pleased with herself for attracting what would be classified as 'un-wanted attention'.  
  
"I said, that whoever flew your shit-box airship, can't fly for crap."  
  
Eveva began to giggle quietly. Zell took another step forward.  
  
"Do you wanna start something with me?"  
  
Cairo grinned and drew out a red materia, calling the name of an attack, and at the same time, Zell summoned Ifrit- which was the same monster Cairo had called upon with the materia. Ifrit appeared, and turned his head one way, then the other, trying to decide who to attack. Eventually, he roared in frustration, and sank back to the ground, moving off to the side. Both Cairo and Zell were confused by this strange outcome, but it didn't put them off. Instead, they forgot completely about their summons and GFs, and raced at each other, dealing blows to one another, in an all out death match. Or rather, it would have been, if the same three women who had watched Cairo hadn't stepped in and restrained her. One of the women stood in front of Cairo.  
  
"Come on! Cut it out!"  
  
Cairo pulled at the other two, and looked down on her. "Out of my way, Yuffie!"  
  
Yuffie shook her head. "No way!"  
  
The three had turned out to be Aeris Gainsbrough, a young woman in a pink dress, Tifa Strife, a brunette trying as hard as she could to keep Cairo away from Zell, and Yuffie Kisaragi, Cairo's best friend. Cairo was physically restrained, but it didn't stop her from using what she used best- her mouth.  
  
She snarled at Zell. "C'mon, you little chicken! Or are you too afraid to loose?"  
  
Zell went to move forward again, but Squall put a restraining hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Zell, forget about it."  
  
Zell moved back, but Cairo wasn't finished.  
  
"You're so dumb, that if your brain was made of electricity, you'd be a walking blackout!"  
  
Zell gritted his teeth. "Come here and say it to my face!"  
  
Cairo laughed. "I'd love to, if I could figure out which end is your face."  
  
Then Cairo once again, made her mark. "Oh, and I almost forgot, your mother. She's so dumb, that she stayed up all night studying, but she still failed her blood test! Oh, and I'm not finished either," she said, when she noticed how angry Zell was becoming, "Cause, another thing, she's so fat, that you could slap her leg, and ride the wave home!"  
  
A sudden silence spread over Squall's group. Zell looked like he was about to explode. Cloud turned to Cairo.  
  
"If you don't shut up, Cairo, I'll shove this sword where you don't wanna know."  
  
Cairo turned to him. "I can't win against you," then she motioned to Squall, "And I can't win against them, either. Why can't I win!?"  
  
Zell nodded angrily. "It'd probably be easier to win, if you weren't such a looser."  
  
Cloud raised a finger to Cairo, before she retaliated. Suddenly, three figures crept out of the Ragnarok. Cirrus elbowed the demon-thing.  
  
"Look Rogue, more 'aliens'."  
  
Squall turned quickly, and looked in shock, as a very surprised, and rather unwell-looking Seifer stood between Raijin and Fujin behind them. Quistis sighed and shook her head. Suddenly, a huge bout of laughter echoed out. Squall turned again, to see a familiar-looking creature at Eveva's feet, lying on it's back, laughing it's head off.  
  
"Carbuncle?"  
  
This just made the creature laugh harder. It was obvious that it wasn't Carbuncle, as it had a star and cresent moon on it's forehead, instead of a ruby. The little animal tried to stop laughing.  
  
"I'm Nova! Silly!"  
  
She was now lying on her stomach, pounding the ground in laughter. Quistis, apparently very confused by all this, shook her head.  
  
"Can someone please explain what's going on?"  
  
Eveva stepped forward. "Yeah, I can probably explain everything."  
  
"So, that's my half of the story, what about you? What's your deal?"  
  
Eveva motioned to Squall. However, he didn't seem like he was ready to spill anything to these people just yet. But Rinoa apparently was.  
  
"We were sent to investigate other planets, and crash-landed here by accident," she said.  
  
Aeris looked to the side, at a dog-like animal, who was reddish in colour, and shrugged.  
  
"Red XIII? What do you think?"  
  
Red XIII sighed, noticing now, that most of them had turned to him.  
  
"Well, it is a possibility," he began, "I wouldn't be surprised, actually."  
  
Selphie looked out the window of the room they had gathered in, in a small town called Corel. She shrugged.  
  
"So, how're we going to get home, if our ship's stuck in the sand?"  
  
A woman up the back, who was dressed in a dark blue suit, similar to the two men she was sitting with, looked up.  
  
"I'm kind of worried about that actually. Certain monsters like to bury themselves in the sand. The front of the ship could have hit one of them."  
  
One of the men next to her, turned to her. "Nah, I don't think so."  
  
Irvine looked up at them, and he realised that they hadn't noticed these three until now.  
  
"Who are you?" he asked, waving his hand in their direction.  
  
Cairo was about to say something, but Cloud managed to get in before her.  
  
"The Turks."  
  
The woman nodded. "A sub-division of Shinra Inc.," then she shrugged and added, "But not anymore, however. Shinra crashed a little over two years ago."  
  
The man next to her shook his head. "They probably don't care about that, Elena. Scarlet wasn't wrong about nothing changing."  
  
Elena looked at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
Quistis looked around at them all. "We really have to get the Ragnarok out of the sand."  
  
Nova shrugged. "Not much you can do, sorry, but, you'll have to wait until Gaishiiaa get's that little problem under control."  
  
Quistis looked curious. "Who is Gaishiiaa, anyway?"  
  
Cloud shook his head. "Don't ask. You'll start her up." he added, pointing to Eveva. She shot a nasty look in his direction.  
  
"Start me up about what?" she asked, putting her hands on hips. Cloud didn't answer. Cairo was standing, waiting for her chance to start another argument. She had now learnt how, and who to aggravate in amongst the  
  
newcomers. Eveva turned around and left the room, followed by Nova and Red XIII. Cloud nodded.  
  
"I guess she has the right idea. If you really came to investigate other planets," he said.  
  
"We'll give you le grand tour." Cairo said smartly, and in doing so, recieved a warning glance from Cloud and Tifa not to start up. Cairo rolled her eyes and groaned.  
  
"Humans. You can't live with them, and life would be easier without them."  
  
Rogue was cautious about these new people, to her, they were a little more than different. Squall noticed it, but didn't care much, as he too, felt a bit strange around this new group, who, for some reason had sided with animals which they normally would never had given a second glance to. The airship that belonged to Cloud and his group, was named the Highwind, but was actually an improved version of it. Rinoa appeared not to mind them much, despite the fact that they had been very rudely welcomed by the dragon named Cairo. Zell would not go anywhere near the creature, only because Squall had advised him not to. The other two animals were a reddish, dog-like animal, who they called Red XIII, although he was really named Nanaki, and a stuffed cat with a bit of a history, called Cait Sith. There were the three members of the 'Turks', Elena, Reno and Tseng, who, according to Cloud, used to be on the opposing side in a massive war two years ago. Also from this side, was Scarlet, former head of the Shinra Weapons Development Department, who has a prominent reputation for being a little hard to live with, and basically a bitch, and Reeve, the head of the Urban Development and Welfare Department, the man who created and programmed Cait Sith. Amongst the oldest members of this group, was Aeris Gainsbrough, a young woman who had been through more than her fair share of trouble during her life. She was always around Tifa Strife, formerly Tifa Lockheart, who had been with them from the very beginning. A friend of Cairo's, 17-year-old Yuffie Kisaragi, was the youngest in the party. She came from a long line of Ninja, and liked to prove this by showing off. Cid Highwind was the pilot of the airship, Barrett Wallace had a gun grafted into his right arm after a brush with Scarlet and a group of Shinra guards a long time ago. There was Vincent Valentine, a very mysterious man, and Reed, a chocobo breeder, who was noted as a comedian among the girls of the group. The leader of them all, was 22-year-old Cloud Strife, who used to be a member of the 'Bad Guy's Version of SeeD', SOLDIER. And of course, there was Eveva Diego, the first one they met. When she wasn't around, Aeris told them of how Eveva used to make everyone worry about her by doing her ever- famous disappearing act, and about the time when she used the cards as clues to find her. Despite how anti-social Squall was acting towards them, this happened to spark up a conversation about cards, and Squall ended up explaining to Aeris about their card game. Quistis stood in the middle of the grassy area where they had all decided to come. It was past midday, and shadows had crept across the banks, though it was still quite hot. She looked across the river at the forest on the other side. As she sat down, Zell came up behind her.  
  
"Pretty friendly, wouldn't you say?" Quistis said, looking at the opposite shore. Zell laughed sarcastcally.  
  
"Yeah. Right."  
  
Quistis stood up. "It feels strange, you know, it's a completely different world, with completely different knowledge, and completely different ways of doing things, but still, one thing never changes."  
  
Zell crossed his arms. "And what is that?"  
  
Quistis laughed. "People still know how to make other people hate them."  
  
Zell looked confused, and shook his head. Selphie jumped up next to them.  
  
"I wonder if there's anything interesting on the other side of the river. Maybe we can ask?"  
  
Quistis shrugged, and looked over at Squall, who was a little distance away, speaking to Aeris.  
  
"Well, that's surprising."  
  
They all looked over. Zell grinned. "Yeah, sure is." Then he turned to Quistis. "Why?"  
  
Selphie sighed. "Squall's actually being social. It's wierd."  
  
Quistis laughed. "Maybe there's something in the atmosphere."  
  
Yuffie was a little way away, sitting on a rock and throwing stones into the smoothly flowing water of the river. She looked at them and grinned. "Cairo likes you." She said, pointing to Zell. "That's why she picks on you. 'Cause she likes you."  
  
Selphie looked up at her. "Your name was Yuffie, wasn't it?"  
  
Yuffie nodded, and threw a handful of rocks into the water at once, and jumped down. She took out her shuriken, and started throwing it over the river, and letting it come back to her, like a school-child would do with a ball against a brick wall. She caught it one last time, and turned to them.  
  
"Anyway. Don't let it get to you, she only does it for attention." She looked at Selphie. "Do you know how to use one of these?"  
  
Selphie shook her head. "Uh-uh. I use a Nunchaku."  
  
This seemed to rouse Yuffie's attention. "You mean that you fight?"  
  
Selphie nodded slowly. Yuffie jumped up. "Cool!"  
  
Quistis turned to Zell and laughed. "That sure is a different reaction to Mayor Dobe, of FH."  
  
Then she walked away.  
  
"I think it's funny, actually," Eveva said brightly, turning to Selphie and Irvine. "You see, he reminds me of someone I used to know."  
  
Irvine shook his head. "Don't know. To me, Seifer is just Seifer. Don't know anyone else like him."  
  
Selphie nodded. "Right."  
  
Eveva had learnt quickly. She knew that Squall was a member of SeeD, and that they had fought against sorceresses and such. She had learnt that Seifer had sided with one of these sorceresses, that Fujin and Raijin were his friends, and she had been told all about Garden, and the Ragnarok, and all about them. She seemed interested in them, and they thought her as one of the most social people they had ever met.  
  
Eveva thought for a minute. "Well," she said slowly, "He reminds me of the last president of Shinra. A real butthole."  
  
Selphie and Irvine started laughing. Eveva also laughed for a moment. She was about to say something new, when suddenly the ground began to shake. The three of them were standing next to the Ragnarok, and as the ground began to shake, the sand in the desert shifted and separated, and a huge form lifted out of the sand, shaking itself off, revelaing itself as the final remanant of the last president of Shinra, Rufus' rein. Neo Ultima. The forgotten Weapon looked down on them menacingly. Selphie backed up, and turned to Eveva.  
  
"What is that?"  
  
Eveva shook her head. "You don't wanna know," she said, turning to run, and hoping that they would do the same. Weapon pushed itself away from the desert, narrowly missing standing on the Ragnarok, although, the massive upheaval pushed it further under the sand. By this time, all had assembled themselves in the middle of the clearing. Weapon moved up, onto the grass before them, and roared. Squall looked sidewards at Cloud.  
  
"What is that?"  
  
Cloud didn't turn to look at him. "Neo-Ultima Weapon." He backed up. "A good idea would be to retreat. Not to blame anyone, but, I think when you crashed, you must have woken it up."  
  
Squall didn't say anything, instead, he followed Cloud's example. After all, he obviously knew a fair bit more about the monsters here than Squall did. It would make sense to follow their example.  
  
From a little way behind them, the Highwind's engines roared to life, and it turned, hovering overhead. Above, on the deck, Tifa, Cait Sith, Reed and Reno stood by the ladder, as they all quickly climbed up onto the deck. Yuffie turned to Squall and waved for them to follow.  
  
"Come on! You'd have to be looney to actually stay here!"  
  
Nodding, Squall turned to his friends, and signalled for them to go.  
  
"No choice, so get up there."  
  
They ran over to the ladder, following the others. Zell was the last to grab on, and as he did, the Highwind began moving, to get away from the Weapon as fast as it could. But before it was able to stabalize, given the speed it was turning, Neo-Ultima struck out, hitting the side of the ship hard, causing the Highwind to flail to the side, swinging dangerously in the air currents. So hard was the strike, that Zell lost his grip on the ladder, and fell back to the ground. Squall leaned over the rail.  
  
"Zell!"  
  
Cairo, who was one of the few of Cloud's party still on deck, turned at the loud yell. She saw what happened, and almost couldn't give a damn. But in the split second between when she saw Squall at the rail, and when she made the decision whether to leave it or help, she saw how much his friends were worried. Cairo shot her head to the side and growled, put off by the thought. Then she cast a sidewards glance at them, and suddenly felt guilty.  
  
"Dammit!" She ran forward and sprang over the railing, shoving Quistis and Squall to the side as she did so, and glided quickly down to the ground, picking up speed as she got closer to the ground. Irvine looked down and turned to Rinoa.  
  
"What the hell is she doin'?"  
  
Zell pulled himself to his feet, and jumped aside as Weapon nearly stepped on him. It was about to hit at the airship, but Zell's sudden movement caught it's eye. It pulled it's hand up, and brought it down. Weapon would have hit him, except just at the last second, Cairo dove in and grabbed him, pulling him out of the way. Slightly stunned at first, Zell's first reaction was to try and wriggle out of her grasp.  
  
"You crazy, or what? You really want me to let you go? Looked down recently?" Moving higher, she suddenly realised that the Highwind was nowhere in sight. "Goddammit! They've gone!"  
  
Landing quickly outside a forest, she moved away from Zell and turned her back to him. They stood this way for a moment, before Cairo turned around and pointed at him.  
  
"Listen. I don't like you, and you don't like me. You owe me, and if I just leave you here, Cloud will skin me alive. So, either way, were stuck out here with each other, until we can find our way back to the Highwind. Your piece of junk ship is now more than half-buried under tonnes of burning sand, there is a huge monster out there, who you woke up, and I have to watch out for you 'cause you know jack about this place. Frankly, if I didn't have a reputation as one of the few non-human members of AVALANCHE, I'd leave you out here for the Grand Horns to do away with. Unfortunately, I have a duty, and that is, whether I ditch you in the next town, or if I stick with you until we catch up with Cloud, you're my damn resposibility."  
  
Zell crossed his arms. "Finished?" He walked up to her. "I have similar feelings about you."  
  
Cairo nodded and sneered at him. "Good. Nice to see we have an understanding of each other."  
  
She began walking. "Nearest town, is Cosmo Canyon. Two days walk. I could be there split, if I flew, but, I can't 'cause I got you." She thought for a moment. "Then again, I have another idea."  
  
She turned around and looked at him, crossing her arms. "Being who you are, I'd presume that you'd have a bit of balance, wouldn't you?"  
  
Zell shrugged and nodded at this strange question. "Why?"  
  
Cairo grinned. "You wanna hope that you ain't lyin'."  
  
Quistis crossed her arms and shook her head. "Poor Zell. I wonder what happened to him."  
  
Selphie shrugged. "I wonder if he's alright."  
  
Squall was completely silent. 'I wonder why the dragon dove down. She obviously disliked him from the beginning. I wouldn't mind knowing what she did after we left'. He shook his head.  
  
"There's nothing we can do," Rinoa said, sighing, "This world is strange to us, and we have absolutely no understanding of anything here, except for what Cloud has told us."  
  
Irvine looked up. "You don't think that Cairo would just abandon Zell out there, do you? I mean, she clearly hates him."  
  
"She won't."  
  
Eveva and Red XIII walked into the lobby. Eveva waved her arm at them. "Because he owes her something now. Cairo never leaves a debt unpaid."  
  
Quistis looked at her. "What is she likely to do with him, anyway? She wont just leave him out there, will she?"  
  
Squall looked up quickly. "Zell's not that weak."  
  
Red XIII was about to say what he had been told by Seifer about Zell, but thought it wise to keep his mouth shut. Eveva shook her head. "Cloud would massacré her if she left anyone like that. Weak or not, debt or not. And she knows it too."  
  
Cairo tried to make it as difficult as she could for Zell to hold on. She may have had to stick with him, but it didn't have to be easy. Flashing like a bullet over the coutryside, throwing up small rocks and dust as she skimmed over the ground. She realised that this was getting to easy, and shot up vertical, looping around before continuing on her course. She grinned.  
  
"Having fun yet?"  
  
Zell grabbed her shoulder. "I'm just getting started."  
  
Undaunted by how fast Cairo flew, Zell was adamant upon proving that he wasn't as weak as Cairo apparently thought he was. Taking the phrase 'Death Wish' to new heights, Zell got hold of her head crests and held them like reins, standing up. Cairo was impressed, and put it to the test by flying up vertically, before shooting back down again, doing a corkscrew and ramming the ground, before flying out of the cloud of dust thrown up. Veering to the left, Cairo went crazy, trying to shake him off balance. Moving over the beach, sand flew up at the sides, like someone was pulling a plough through it. Then she hit the water, spray flying up on both of them, like a boat cutting through the waves. Once again coming over land, Cairo dove into the canyon and flew up to Cosmo Canyon, landing just outside the cliff-side town.  
  
"Amusing. I'd have to say. Quite amusing. I'm not going to use the word impressing, it's too good," she said.  
  
Zell grinned, picking up somehow what Cairo was thinking at the moment. Cairo turned and walked up the stone stairs into Cosmo Canyon. She looked up at the man standing at the gates.  
  
"Cairo Glensainigi. Come for assistance," she barked out, as he turned to say that there was no room left in the town. He pulled back and nodded.  
  
"Assistance? Of what kind?"  
  
Cairo stood at the top of the stairs. "We need to know where the airship Highwind is located."  
  
The man shook his head. "Can't help you on that one, but I did see it go by before, heading for the Shinra 26 Launch Pad. Rocket Town."  
  
Cairo stood steady for a moment, before she shook her head. "They wont stay there for long. Need to find a short cut to Rocket Town."  
  
The man nodded, and pointed towards Mt Nibel, the menacing grey mountain surrounded by others of it's like, which rose up in the distance, creating a barren looking and dreary horizon.  
  
"If you head North-East through the Nibel mountains, and across the cliffs behind it, you'll cut a day and a half off the time taken."  
  
Cairo turned to Zell. "We'll have to see." She turned to the man and nodded thanks. She knew to be polite to these people, as they were very generous, and didn't deserve to be offended, even by her. "Come on, Zell, I think it was. I got no time to be waitin' around for you."  
  
Zell had learnt to ignore her remarks. He just turned and followed her down the stairs.  
  
  
  
Cairo pulled her head down in the heavy wind. Ahead, were the cliffs separating them from Rocket Town. Zell took a step out onto the thin path that led down to the cliffs. From where she stood, she could easily see the town, and the tiny grey outline of the Highwind just outside the town. The path was incredebly thin, and there was a brisk, cold wind of increasing intensity blowing them about. Cairo was beginning to think it was a mistake even considering rescuing him. Zell turned back to her.  
  
"Nothin' to it but to do it."  
  
Cairo looked at him. "You have got to be kiddin', right. You slip, and I can't fly to your rescue again, wind's too strong."  
  
Zell shrugged. "I dont see any other way out of it."  
  
Cairo didn't reply, just watched as he took another step out along the path. She watched him, thinking that he couldn't possibly be serious.  
  
She waved her hand in exasperation. "Okay, you can tell me your sane idea anytime you're ready."  
  
Zell grabbed the rock and looked back. "Didn't you say that you don't have the time to wait for me? I'm not waitin' for you."  
  
Cairo sighed and stepped out into the wind. "I swear, you are more crazy than bloody Eveva."  
  
Quistis sighed and looked around at the peaceful little town. Everything had been explained, their story and Cloud's. Shaking her head, she turned and saw Squall standing by himself near one of the buildings. She walked up to him, but he seemed to ignore her presence.  
  
"Squall, what's wrong?" she asked, crossing her arms. Squall half looked up at her.  
  
"What are you talking about? There's nothing wrong." Squall watched her shake her head at him. 'So, maybe there is one or two things', he thought, 'I mean, how could anyone not notice the obvious? It's as if they've switched off. Or maybe they don't want to think. Like usual'. Quistis looked up as there was a sudden outburst to their left.  
  
"What on earth.....?"  
  
They watched as Eveva, Yuffie and Selphie bolted past them, with the Turks not that far behind. The three well-dressed characters stopped chasing the girls and stood there for a moment. Eveva, Yuffie and Selphie stopped running, and began laughing at the Turks, catching their breath. Elena looked a bit flustered.  
  
"What was that about, you three? What'd you all do that for?" she asked, panting from loss of breath. Yuffie stopped laughing long enough to give a short answer.  
  
"Because."  
  
Reno shook his head. "It's not hard to tell that you're all kids, you know."  
  
Eveva grinned. "Get your pole out of your behind and smell the roses, Reno. Everyone knows you're easy to scare."  
  
This caused the three of them to burst out in laughter. Even Elena and Tseng tried not to smile. Quistis and Squall both shook their heads.  
  
"What's going on?" Quistis asked, stepping forward. Selphie laughed.  
  
"We set off little fire crackers, the ones that make the banging noises, right next to them." She began laughing again. Quistis looked at Squall and cocked her head to the side in exasperation. He shrugged in reply. Cloud and some of the others came out of one of the buildings, looking curious. Tifa looked around at them all.  
  
"What just happened?"  
  
Yuffie turned to her. "Nuthin', we were just havin' a little fun, that's all."  
  
"Hey!"  
  
They turned at the new voice, as a bluish grey form shot into the middle of them. The familiar dragon hovered above the ground for a moment, then landed. Cairo threw herself backwards, throwing Zell off her back, landing on his behind hard. He stood up, and grinned.  
  
"Miss me?"  
  
Rinoa laughed. "Oh, you're alright! I'm so glad! We were worried!"  
  
Cairo turned to him. "I'll say the word now, if you could hold on through that, I am impressed."  
  
Zell grinned wider, as if he had made some sort of achievement. It was all happening very fast. Squall nodded, though not exactly showing how relieved he was that Zell was alright. Cairo shook her head clearingly.  
  
"You're a maniac," she said, throwing her head back. "I've never seen anyone as suicidal." Smirking cheekily, she added, "You've broken Eveva's record for most sub-concious attempts to kill yourself in one day."  
  
Eveva kicked Cairo in the shin. "Shut up. I do not have a record."  
  
Cairo jeered at her, laughing. "You're right. He does."  
  
Cloud looked confused. "Wait on, what happened to you two after the attack?"  
  
Cairo looked at Zell strangely. "This and that. I can tell you this, though, standing on my back while I was doing who knows how many kilometers an hour, taking a stroll down a cliff top in the wind, and scaling a rock face in a blizzard? SU-I-CIDE!"  
  
Squall shrugged. "I guess that wouldn't be too wrong."  
  
Zell smirked, walked over and gave him a huge hug. Squall tried to get out of his grip, but he was too strong. Cairo laughed.  
  
"Geez. Sure am glad that ain't me!" she said, smiling. "But, I guess you're alright. Don't get the wrong idea, 'cause I still don't like you. Just agreeing that maybe I judge people a little quick."  
  
Yuffie giggled and repeated Zell's movement to Rogue, who was standing next to her. Rogue seemed slightly disturbed by it.  
  
"Ey, you right there, Yuffie?"  
  
Yuffie continued giggling. Rogue just shook her head. Reed put his hands behind his head and laughed.  
  
"What a happy reunion. Well, when do you suppose Gaishiiaa'll come back?"  
  
Rogue and Eveva shrugged. Rogue laughed.  
  
"Bahamut, Neo Bahamut, Bahamut ZERO and Aramet fighting? Can that ever be helped? Regardless of how much they respect each other, they have had little family tussles since they became summons. You think that Gaishiiaa can help with that, ey? I repeat what was said once before. El narbos tu draco."  
  
Aeris shook her head. "What does that mean, anyway?"  
  
Rogue laughed and Eveva covered her mouth, as it was obvious that she knows what was said.  
  
"I cannot give you the exact words," she said, still laughing, "But I'll say, it's an over exaggerated way of saying, that she is a clueless and very well, stuffed-up dragon. You understand what I am saying, no?"  
  
Scarlet shook her head. "Now I know what she ment by keeping those comments to yourself. Even though, that's probably what I'd-"  
  
Eveva crossed her arms. "For your sake, I wouldn't finish that sentance."  
  
Gaishiiaa put a hand on her head and sighed, as the three Bahamuts and their mother Aramet yelled at each other at the tops of their voices. Gaishiiaa finally got tired of it.  
  
"All of you, enough!!" she yelled out above them all. They were silent. Gaishiiaa nodded. "I've heard enough. You're fighting over nothing. Silly little family arguments are not a problem, because it's only sibling rivalry. The only reason it got out of hand, is because you all frustrated yourselves. Now, I think you should all let it go and make up. I have better things to do than resolve family tussles."  
  
Aramet nodded slowly with agreement, and then turned to her three sons. "She is right. Enough is enough. Let's be gone."  
  
The four dragons turned and left the cave. Gaishiiaa shook her head and sighed.  
  
"Perhaps I should find Eveva. Something interesting must have happened while I was sorting out Aramet and her family."  
  
The Highwind landed in the meadows outside the desert where the Ragnarok had crashed, the ship was now more than half-buried in the sands. Squall shook his head.  
  
"Any chance we had of getting it out before has been ruined. Looks like we're stuck here," Selphie uttered, sighing. A roar in the distance reminded them that the Neo-Ultima was on the loose. Cloud looked around at the countryside.  
  
"There's nothing we can really do," he said, shrugging, "I wish there was."  
  
Aeris was looking out towards the distant ocean. Her eyes suddenly lit up.  
  
"Maybe there is," she cried, pointing, "Look! Look out to sea!"  
  
Cutting through the water like a sea-serpent, was a long, snake-like form. Gaishiiaa. The massive snake-dragon hit the beach, and dove from the water onto the land, throwing a huge spray of sea-water quite a distance inland. She curved down, and then threw her head back, before moving slowly towards them. She looked down at Cloud's group, before noticing Squall and the others. She stood there for a moment, before turning to Rogue.  
  
"Maree na toress cam?"  
  
Rogue grinned. "No, amicus meus. They are seeming a little apprehensive of you, ey?"  
  
Gaishiiaa laughed, and dropped to her forelegs. "Yes, it would appear so."  
  
Eveva smiled and ran up to the dragon. "Did you sort out Bahamut?"  
  
Gaishiiaa nodded. "It wasn't that hard."  
  
Rogue turned to Cirrus, who was still with them. "Ay, a strange set of dragons, no? Always in argument with the others."  
  
Cirrus shrugged. "I wouldn't know."  
  
Squall looked at Rinoa. "What on earth is going on?"  
  
She shrugged. "I wouldn't know."  
  
Gaishiiaa brought herself back onto two legs. "I am the summon Gaishiiaa. You are apparently not from around here?"  
  
Irvine laughed. "That's an understatement."  
  
Red XIII looked up at Gaishiiaa. "Their ship is stuck in the sand. Can you assist by removing it?"  
  
Gaishiiaa looked over at the Ragnarok and scratched her head.  
  
"That one over there? Maybe so."  
  
She walked over and dove into the sand. The ship moved, and suddenly the nose of the ship burst out of the sand, Gaishiiaa pushing it as hard as she could. Forcing it off the desert area, she pushed the Ragnarok out of the sand and onto the grass. Selphie and Zell cheered, and Quistis smiled. Gaishiiaa turned and looked at them.  
  
"What an interesting ship. It was certainly burried deep under the sand."  
  
The 9 of them approached the ship. Squall pushed open the door, and they went inside. Cairo grinned and yelled out, "Bye, manic!" and crossed her arms as the engines buzzed to life, and threw up massive clouds of dust and haze, as it lifted slowly off the ground. But the noise from the starting engines attracted the attention of an unwanted guest. Flying over head, Neo- Ultima roared, and landed. Cloud waved up at them to go, and then he and the others took up battle positions around the Weapon. The Ragnarok turned and flew off over the mountains, gaining speed before it left the planet. Selphie accelerated the ship, and Rinoa turned to Squall.  
  
"I feel kind of slack, leaving them there."  
  
Squall looked at her and shook his head. 'What am I supposed to do about it? What can we do?'.  
  
Neo-Ultima hit out again with it's Ultima magic, throwing Red XIII, Cait Sith and Cairo backwards, dealing another fatal blow to the group. Tifa looked at Cloud and covered her head as Cairo let out her Ultima Ray on the Weapon.  
  
"We can't hold up," she called to him, over the noise of the fight. Cloud nodded.  
  
"I know, but we can't pull back. We can't let it go!"  
  
Weapon roared again, and slammed his hands on the ground, shaking them all up. Cairo fell to the ground and didn't get back up. Yuffie, who was standing next to her, kneeled down and summoned Aramet.  
  
They disappeared in flashes of light, and Aramet floated down from the sky, her golden wings wrapped around her silver-grey body. Swinging her wings open, Aramet roared, and swished her tail like an angry cat. Then she formed a band of purple light around her head, and blew fire on it, causing the band to hit Neo-Ultima with a huge force, restraining it tightly, strapping it's arms to it's sides. As Aramet vanished back to the planet, the bands broke, hitting Weapon for a second time. Yuffie fell back, a great deal of her energy taken to summon Aramet. Aeris kept using magic spells relentlessly, but still, she was also beginning to tire. Vincent had used his limit, and was replaced by the demon-like monster, Chaos, attacking Weapon with attacks such as Chaos Saber and Satan Slam. But it was becoming useless. Weapon kept restoring itself. When Rufus had demanded a super-powerful Weapon clone, Whitehall had definetly succeeded. Barrett was falling back, admitting his defeat. Even Eveva, often too proud to admit it if she was beaten, was shaking her head and backing up. Gaishiiaa had been knocked away, after her futile attempts to destroy it, with her powerful Light Column and Ultimate Detsruction attacks. She was on the ground, a little way away. Neo-Ultima looked down at them all and growled, the power crystal on it's chest; a characteristic with all Weapons, began to glow. Elena stumbled to her feet.  
  
"It's going to use Neo-Ultima Blast!" she cried out, as Weapon absorbed energy from around it. It was just about to fire, when suddenly a massive barrage of explosions went off around it. Cloud and the others shielded themselves from the bright white light of the blasts going off around them, and Neo-Ultima's entire torso simply exploded, a huge hole forming in it's upper body. They all looked up as the explosions ceased, and gaped in shock as Neo-Ultima screeched in anguish, and crashed into the desert, smoke trailing from it's charred body, sinking beneath the quicksand. Cloud looked up, and there was the Ragnarok, with all it's complex glory, hovering above the smoke and sand, it's engines roaring, as it once again pulled close to the ground, this time for a softer landing. The door opened, and the group jumped out. Squall stood there, his hair blowing in the rising wind.  
  
"Now we're even." 


End file.
